Vet Suspended for Lidocaine Offense

Trainer Jeff Bonde was fined $1,000 for possession of contraband and his private veterinarian suspended for 30 days by stewards at Golden Gate Fields Dec. 13 after lidocaine was found in a post-race urine sample of a horse under their care.

As a Class II violation of California Horse Racing Board medication rules, stewards ordered redistribution of the purse of $10,200 earned by El Sierra Tahoe and disqualified the horse from winning the ninth race at Bay Meadows Sept. 1.

Dr. Kim Kuhlmann was suspended for three separate rule violations arising from the “negligent administration of (a) Class II prohibited substance,” the ruling said. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic.

Kuhlmann, best known as the co-breeder of Lava Man, is to serve his suspension Dec. 20-Jan. 18. He told an investigator he had administered the authorized bleeder medication Salix to El Sierra Tahoe four hours prior to the race. However, no Salix was found in the test sample.

According to the CHRB, the veterinarian had previously sutured a wound on another horseusing lidocaine as a painkiller. He accepted responsibility for the medication error.

Kuhlmann is denied access to all premises under the CHRB’s jurisdiction during the ban.

Bonde’s fine stems from a search of his barn by a CHRB investigator that located two 20cc Monject syringes without needles. The search was conducted Sept. 19, five days after the analysis of El Sierra Tahoe’s sample by the Kenneth Maddy Laboratory at the University of California-Davis revealed the presence of 3-hydroxy lidocaine, a urinary metabolite of the substance.

A split sample tested by a second lab confirmed the finding. The complaint against Bonde in relation to the 3-hydroxy lidocaine violation was dismissed. The trainer did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Philip Lebherz and George Schmitt own El Sierra Tahoe. Roberto Gonzalez was the jockey. The stewards’ hearing into the CHRB complaint was conducted Dec. 6.

In a separate ruling Dec. 13, Golden Gate stewards fined trainer Greg Gilchrist $1,500 after a post-race urine sample of a horse in his care revealed the presence of procaine in excess of specified levels, a Class III violation.

Yodelay You’re Who won the second race at Bay Meadows Sept. 26. The winning purse, $7,200, was ordered redistributed, and Yodelay You’re Who, owned by Scott D. Sherwood and ridden by Russell Baze, was disqualified.